“I’ll take no for one hundred,” I replied, smiling at her.
“I’m going to guess that just means you don’t.” She sighed and rubbed her face with one hand. “Ammit is divine justice given form. Think about that for a second. You almost killed the embodiment of the gods’ retribution.”
“Um … okay?” I shrugged. “That’s bad why?”
“Because you shouldn’t have been able to do it,” Sekhmet said, though she still hadn’t bothered to look at me. “That thing you became, that form … it reminds me of someone I knew long ago.” She shook her head minutely. “Luke, you should not be able to go toe to toe with a being like Ammit. He should have judged you and found you wanting. Not the other way around.”
“Uh … why? Khufu dropped you pretty easily, and you’re a god.” Aziza stepped out of the way as I spoke, presumably so she wouldn’t be between me and the warrior goddess. It was probably a wise decision since this was clearly a discussion between Sekhmet and me.
“It isn’t even close to the same,” Sekhmet replied as Aziza moved past her and joined Khufu. “I was not always a god. I was once mortal like you. I was one of the Menhit, but you may know them as the guardians. We were a caste of warriors given power in accordance to the creatures we were created to fight.” She whipped out her hand, and a glowing bow appeared in it. Flame licked across its surface so that it looked like it was hewn from fire. “This was my weapon, Nesert. In your tongue it means ‘the flame,’ and from it, I rained down arrows of sun fire upon my enemies. Long ago, it was inhabited by Hathor herself.”
She turned and faced me, the bow still clasped in her hand as she stepped up to me and looked into my eyes. “I was mortal once and became a deity thanks to Ra. My power is an extension of his now. Ammit, on the other hand, is entirely different. He is a primordial force, Luke. Killing him is like killing good or cold or love. It shouldn’t be able to be done.” That’s when I realized her lips were trembling and gooseflesh had risen on her arms.
“And it scares you that I almost did it.” I nodded once. “But does it scare you more because it was me or because it nearly happened?” I peered at her. “That’s not what I meant. What I meant was if Khufu or Aziza had done it, would you be this scared?”
“Luke, what you’re not understanding is that they couldn’t have done it. Only you could do it, and I do not understand how.” She swallowed, and I had the urge to pull her against me, to hug her until she felt better, and I didn’t really know why because she was the god of war. Wanting to comfort her was silly, right?
“After you hurt Ammit, remember what happened after Sekhmet and I were able to heal him? Where Khufu struck him with his full might,” Aziza said, her voice quiet like she was trying very hard not to be intrusive.
“I sure do. My weapon shattered into dust, and the reverberation damn near broke my arm,” Khufu called over his shoulder. “And not only did you nearly rip him in half with your bare hands, but you healed the wound he gave you like it was nothing.”
“Yeah,” I said with a shrug. “So, what’s the problem?”
“That kind of is the problem. Whatever you are, Luke, it’s stronger than I expected,” Aziza said, and this time fear threaded into her words. “That’s kinda scary.”
“It’s not that, you fools,” Sekhmet cried, and her voice smashed into the walls around us and filled the huge hallway until it was nearly bursting. “You do not understand how the world, how the Menhit operate. We’re strong, but we’re only strong in proportion to our threats. The universe strives for balance. Monsters get strong, so the Menhit get stronger, it goes on endlessly. So, Luke, think about something. Think about what threat you have been around that was so strong the forces of balance would propel you to such power that you could hurt a creature like Ammit.” She swallowed, waving away that thought as though it was nothing. “Then think about what is so powerful, it requires a Menhit that powerful to stop it. Apep isn’t that strong.”
She reached out and touched me lightly, the very tips of her fingers brushing along my arm. No sooner had she done so, she jerked her hand back like she’d been bitten. Her eyes opened wide, and her mouth sort of fell open. “No …” She backed away from me, tripped and fell on her butt. “He can’t be back…”
She stared at me, not moving as Aziza and Khufu came toward us warily. They looked from the suddenly incoherent Sekhmet to me and back again in a strange sort of swivel that made a bad feeling settle in my stomach. If what she was telling me was true, had my wolf finally been able to communicate with me been because I’d encountered a huge threat? Where? When?
“Sekhmet, if it isn’t Apep, then I can’t think of anything else that’s happened like that,” I said, peering at her. “No huge threats, magical or otherwise. Nothing that would cause what you say is happening to happen.”
“The Destroyer has returned in your time, Luke. It is the only explanation even though it sounds impossible.” Sekhmet’s voice was barely a whisper. “How could he be back?” She stood, the movement jerky and sudden. She grabbed me by the shirt with both hands and pulled me down, so she was peering directly into my face. “Tell me.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Sekhmet.”
Her eyes were filled with fear, no, far worse than that, they were filled with hysteria. “Luke, it took the combined might of the Menhit to stop him last time. And even then, it was only because the gods stepped in to help. I fought him, not as a Menhit, but as a deity. I was nearly at my full strength, and I was but a fly before him.” Sekhmet swallowed and looked away. “And somehow, he is back, and that has caused us to get someone like you! He must be even stronger than I remember.”
She flopped down on the ground and began sobbing. It was the most disconcerting thing I’d ever seen. Imagine standing before one of the most powerful, one of the most feared Egyptian deities, and she gets so scared she starts crying, actually crying. And yes, I know that should have scared me, but it didn’t.
Instead, it just made me angry. I wanted to find this person, this one who could not be named, and I wanted to crush him beneath my heel, to punish him for hurting Sekhmet all those years ago.
“Sekhmet, we don’t have time for this now,” Khufu urged, kneeling down next to her. “We need to find the staff before—”
“It doesn’t matter. In fact, it might be better if we let Apep rise to destroy the world, maybe, maybe he could stop him … only … only I doubt it.” She shook her head and held up her hand. “I’m okay. It was just … it was only a few hundred years ago that he last rose, and the memory of my fallen comrades is still strong.” She stood, getting to her feet and turning away so she wasn’t facing any of us. “I will not shirk my duties.” She swallowed and stared into my eyes. “When you return to your time, you must stop the Destroyer. There is no other way.”
30
What do you even say to something like that? The Egyptian God of War told me that a guy so powerful he made mincemeat of the gods was alive in my time, and what’s worse, I had to stop him. How was I supposed to do that?
It was a question I had been wrestling with since Sekhmet had told me, how long ago? I wasn’t sure exactly because we were wandering through some kind of maze with walls made of solid gold inlaid with gemstones the size of my fist.
It struck me as sort of funny in a way. With as much gold as the Egyptians had, why did they consider it valuable? Of course, I guess it was entirely possible that it wasn’t actually valuable and was simply what they had lying around. That was a sobering thought.
Still, Khufu didn’t exactly seem worried by the maze even though it was filled with statues of gods that loomed overhead like watchful guardians just waiting for the opportunity to come alive and squish us. In fact, he didn’t even seem to pay attention to where he was going. It was sort of infuriating.
“I got this one too,” Khufu called cheerily as we approached a fork in the road. He glanced right for a second, then left and rubbed his chin. “Hmm … Een
ie, meenie …” He pointed his finger from path to path. “Nah … let’s just go right, that seems right, right?” He smirked at me, and it made me want to smack him across his stupid face. “How’s that sound, Luke?” He shrugged. “Unless you disagree and want to go left. Left could be right, right?”
“I’m going to kill you where you stand, mummy,” Sekhmet replied, fixing him with the same glare she probably used to make small mammals burst into flames. “We’ve been walking for over an hour and between your antics and his brooding,” - she cocked a thumb at me - “I’m not sure how much more I can take.”
“Well, you can always leave,” Khufu replied as he sauntered down the right fork, twirling his hand over his shoulder. “You weren’t even invited. You’re more like the cart trailing on the end of our camel. You know, to carry the goods while we lead.”
Sekhmet turned a shade of purple that reminded me of a crayon I’d had as a kid. Fury purple. It had come with a coloring book of action heroes, so all the colors had names like ‘Fistful of Justice Red’ and ‘Envious of My Power Green.’
I wasn’t quite sure why Khufu was actively antagonizing Sekhmet, but he’d been doing it for nearly the entire journey through the maze. I shrugged and glanced at Aziza, but she wasn’t looking at me. Ever since Sekhmet had told us about the Destroyer, Aziza hadn’t so much as said a peep. It was a little weird. It was like she was worried, but I wasn’t quite sure why. It wasn’t like she had to go to my time and fight him, right? I sighed. Maybe she was worried about him coming to her time and killing everyone?
Admittedly, I hadn’t been much of a conversationalist myself. I was still trying to figure out who it was. The problem was, I couldn’t think of a single person who seemed strong enough. That meant one of two things. Either the Destroyer was hiding his power, or Sekhmet was crazy. And sadly, I was pretty sure she wasn’t crazy … at least not in the ‘I’m going to make up a story about a super-strong bad guy in your time who is going to kill you’ way. Still, part of me sort of hoped she would turn around, punch me in the arm, and yell “Gotcha!” So far, she hadn’t.
“Hey, Aziza.” I glanced at her. “Penny for your thoughts?”
She didn’t even look at me. She just kept staring at her feet as she plodded forward. I looked from her to Sekhmet and Khufu, but neither of them seemed to be paying attention to me. Ignored, party of me.
“Zeez!” I said a bit louder, and this time she looked up at me, face drawn into thought. She blinked a couple times at me.
“Sorry, I didn’t catch that. Did you want something, Luke?” she asked, voice sort of empty and far off like she wasn’t really paying attention to me.
“Yeah, I was wondering what you were thinking about,” I replied, throwing my best smile at her. Admittedly, it was the same one I used on girls walking their dogs at the park. I didn’t exactly have a huge repertoire of smiles.
She stared at me, her unblinking amethyst eyes making me want to look away and let her go back to ignoring me. When I did not do so, she huffed out a short little breath.
“Things,” she said and pointedly stared off into space.
“What kind of things?” I asked, moving closer to her so I wouldn’t have to shout at her for her to pay attention to me.
“Things that aren’t your business.” This time she glared at me, rather deliberately, I’ll add. It was only a slight improvement. Still, it was one of the only times she seemed annoyed with me.
“Why is that?” I pried, reaching out toward her and taking her hand. I gave it a quick squeeze.
“Because I don’t want to talk about it with you.” Her eyes swiveled to Sekhmet, then to Khufu. “Or them.”
“So, you’re just going to keep walking and ignoring me? I mean, I know why I’ve been lost in thought. Sekhmet says some guy is alive who is going to break the world, and I’m supposed to fight him. That’s if I get back home alive, which near as I can tell, isn’t exactly a guarantee.”
Aziza looked at me for a long time, and my breath caught in my throat. I couldn’t explain it exactly, but it almost seemed like she was studying me. And it wasn’t the studying me like I was a little strange. It was more the ‘how can a creature like you actually exist’ kind of staring.
“You don’t get it, do you?” she asked me, voice so quiet that I was sure I was the only one who could hear it.
“Um … evidently not,” I whispered, though I wasn’t sure why. Have you ever noticed that when someone whispers to you, you naturally whisper back? Weird, right?
“I’m scared, Luke.” There was an undercurrent of something in her voice, a little twang that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. She was scared, sure, but it was more than that.
“Don’t worry, Zeez. I’ll protect you.” As soon as the words left my mouth, she turned away and stared at the damned wall again. It was filled with a mural that depicted peasants being thrown into a vat of boiling liquid. I wish I could say this was a particularly abnormal wall, but sadly, it wasn’t. I wasn’t quite sure who had thought it would be a smart idea to decorate the walls of an endless maze with scenes of torture.
Then again, maybe that was to make it scarier? If it was, well, it was dumb. Every time I caught sight of a wall, anger filled me, and the urge to punch the torturers in the face made me frustrated because they weren’t actually here to punch. It had gotten so that I mostly just stared at the back of Khufu’s bald head. Only he had this mole that was really annoying for some reason.
“I know you will, Luke,” Aziza growled at the wall because she wasn’t even looking at me. “That’s why I’m scared.” She shook her head. “I’m scared of what will happen to you. I’m scared you’re going to go through all this.” She waved her hands, indicating the maze. “And when you get home, some jackass is just going to smoosh you like a beetle.” She exhaled through her teeth. “It worries me because I actually really like you.”
“Look, is what Sekhmet said about the Menhit true? That their powers rise to meet the nature of the threat?” When she nodded, I continued, “Then I should be strong enough to fight the Destroyer.”
“I suppose you’re right.” She smiled for the first time in a long time. “There is definitely a chance you could win.”
“Yep.” I smiled. “Look, the way I see it, if this Destroyer guy is so strong, I will either get strong enough to fight him by myself, or I’ll have help, right? Sekhmet did say that the last time he came around, the gods helped.” I put my hands up in front of myself and threw a few punches at the empty air. "Though I am looking forward to going at him mano-a-mano.”
“I have plenty of faith in you, Luke. I think you can beat him. The ‘smooshed like a bug’ thing was sort of an exaggeration because I don’t think it will be an issue of strength.” She shook her head. “Look, you’re a sweet guy. I don’t want you to become something horrible to stop the Destroyer. I don’t want you to lose your humanity to stop him.”
“So, the options are dying or losing my humanity?” I laughed. I couldn’t help it. “What about the option where I chew bubblegum and kick ass?”
She looked at me strangely. “I’m not sure what bubblegum is, Luke. Is it helpful?”
“Doesn’t matter.” I smirked. “I’m all out of it.”
“Showtime!” Khufu yelled, glancing back over his shoulder. He was wearing a grin so wide it almost made me ignore the giant door glaring at me from in front of him. It resembled a sad kabuki mask, and near as I could tell, it was carved from a solid piece of stone that made me think of granite.
Its eyes stared at me like a giant black vortex of suck, and the color around it faded into a dull monochrome that reminded me of a washed-out photograph. Was it absorbing color? No… that was impossible, right?
I shook myself, tearing my eyes from the door’s baleful gaze and forced myself to look at Khufu’s stupid face. He nodded at me, making a sort of “uh-huh” noise.
“See, I told you I knew exactly where I was going,” he called, voice unnecessa
rily loud.
“So that’s where the staff is? Behind that door?” I asked.
“Wouldn’t count on it,” Aziza mumbled, but I was pretty sure I was the only one who heard her.
“Well, no, I mean maybe, but probably not.” Khufu shrugged. “Who’s to say in this crazy mixed-up world?”
“So, what is behind the door?” I said as Sekhmet walked up to the door and placed her palm against its surface. She winced once, gooseflesh rising on her arms.
“It’s cold,” she intoned. “Colder than I’d expect.”
“Behind that door is the winter gate,” Khufu replied. “It’s also the only way out of this damn maze.”
“The winter gate?” I asked. “Like with snow?”
“No snow,” Khufu said, turning around so I was looking at the back of his stupid head. “Just a giant serpent made of ice. No biggie. This is Egypt, we don’t even like ice enough to have a god for it, eh?” He elbowed Sekhmet in the side, just barely brushing her with the tip of his elbow.
She scowled at him. “Why is there an ice serpent in there?”
“Because.” The word echoed from the door, the lips actually twisting to form the words. “Because.” The mouth opened, and a huge glacial tongue fell out and hit the ground. It rolled forward like an icy red carpet, mist trailing off of it in a freezing cloud of vapor.
Within the darkness of the mouth, two glittering ice-blue eyes as big as cows were visible. Then the lights went out. It was lame. And also kind of cool. But mostly lame.
31
“Ice is dumb.” Sekhmet smiled, and flames the color of the sun leaped from her body. A torrent of light and heat exploded from her outstretched hand, sizzling in the crackling air and slamming into the mask’s icy maw like a blowtorch set on sunder.
King of the Gods Page 17